As a number of those affected by the war increases at a absurd and sobering rate, (to say the least) lets all remember to be thinking of and praying for the men and women serving our country (away from their loved ones) this holiday season.

Here is some “wisdom” given via military manuals:

‘If the Enemy is in range, so are you.’
– Infantry Journal

‘It is generally inadvisable to eject over the
area you just bombed’
– U.S. Air Force Manual

‘Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a
person on the ground who is incapable of understanding or doing anything
about it.’

‘The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world;
it can just barely kill you.’
– Attributed to Max Stanley (Northrop test pilot)

‘A pilot who doesn’t have any fear probably isn’t flying
his plane to its maximum.’
– Jon McBride, astronaut

‘If you’re faced with a forced landing, fly the thing
as far into the crash as possible.’
– Bob Hoover (renowned aerobatic and test pilot )

‘A slipping gear could let your M203 grenade launcher fire when you
least expect it. That would make you quite unpopular in what’s left of
your unit.’
– Army’s magazine of preventive maintenance.

‘Never fly in the same cockpit with someone braver than you.’

‘There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime.’
– Sign over squadron ops desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 1970

‘If something hasn’t broken on your helicopter, it’s about to.’

Basic Flying Rules: ‘Try to stay in the middle of the air.
Do not go near the edges of it.
The edges of the air can be recognized by the
appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space.
It is much more difficult to fly there.’

‘You know that your landing gear is up and locked
when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal.’

As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft, having
torn off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck
arrives, the rescuer sees a bloodied pilot and asks, ‘What
happened?’.
The pilot’s reply, ‘I don’t know, I just got here myself!’
– Attributed to Ray Crandell (Lockheed test pilot)